Agur prays a strange prayer in Proverbs: "Give me neither poverty nor riches... lest, being full, I deny you, or being in want, I steal." Then Jesus sends the Twelve out and tells them to carry nothing - "no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money." No safety net, no plan B. Just total reliance on God and whoever opens a door for them. Today gives us three people who understood exactly that kind of dependence - and what it produces when you actually live it.

The deeper reflection on today's readings - and a daily prayer for your household - is waiting in the & Altar app and at andaltar.com. More after the news.

📰 Quick Hits

1. Tonight: The Eve of Fulton Sheen's Beatification

Tomorrow, Venerable Fulton J. Sheen becomes Blessed - one step from sainthood - at The Dome at America's Center in St. Louis. Tonight, Vespers will be prayed at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, and the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal are hosting an open Holy Hour for young adults at the Old Cathedral near the Gateway Arch. A nine-day novena of Holy Hours has been running at Sheen's home cathedral in Peoria since September 15. Tomorrow's Mass begins at 1:30 p.m. Central with a procession and the formal rite of beatification; tickets remain available, and the Mass will be livestreamed for anyone who can't travel.

Faith Lens for the Home: A man who reached 30 million people a week on live television is being honored tomorrow for something that started small - one radio program, one book, one decision to give his whole life away. Ask your family: "What does it mean that Sheen's fame never seemed to be the point for him - only where it could take the Gospel?" If you can, watch tomorrow's livestream together.

2. A Priest Wept at the Altar - and His Own Words Explain Why

A video of Father Brent Bowman, chaplain of Chesterton Academy in Hopkins, Minnesota, overcome with emotion during the consecration went viral last week. Some speculated it was a visible Eucharistic miracle - the wine did not change in appearance or taste. What Bowman described, in his own statement through the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, was something else: "I felt the heaviness of Jesus's substantial presence in the chalice in my hands. The chalice became too heavy to hold... I believe I was given grace to understand more deeply the bittersweetness of Our Lord's Passion and how much blood Christ shed for the immense weight of all our sins."

Faith Lens for the Home: Bowman was careful to say this was a personal grace, not proof of anyone's holiness - a gift given, not earned. Ask your family: "Do we believe, the way Father Bowman clearly does, that something real and weighty actually happens at every single Mass - even when we don't feel it?" That belief is the whole reason Catholics go.

3. Forty Days for Life Begins Today - Deliberately, on Padre Pio's Feast

The fall 40 Days for Life campaign launches today in more than 650 communities across 63 countries, running through November 1 - prayer vigils, fasting, and peaceful outreach outside abortion facilities. Organizers chose today's start date on purpose: it's the feast of St. Pius of Pietrelcina, who said, "Prayer is the best weapon we possess." Since the campaign began in 2007, organizers report more than 26,500 mothers have chosen life for their children.

Faith Lens for the Home: Padre Pio carried the wounds of Christ in his own body for fifty years and still said prayer, not protest, was the real weapon. Ask your family: "What would it look like for us to take part this week - even just praying one decade of the rosary for mothers and children somewhere near us?" You don't need to stand on a sidewalk to join a 40-day chain of prayer.

⛪ Family Saint Spotlight

St. Pius of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio) - September 23

Born Francesco Forgione in 1887 in southern Italy, Padre Pio received the visible stigmata - the wounds of Christ's Passion - in 1918, and bore them for the last fifty years of his life, the longest documented case in Church history. He heard confessions for up to sixteen hours a day, reportedly able to perceive sins penitents hadn't confessed, and drew crowds so large the Vatican briefly restricted his public ministry out of caution before fully vindicating him. He founded a hospital, "Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza" - the House for the Relief of Suffering - that still operates today. He died in 1968 and was canonized in 2002. He is patron of civil defense volunteers, adolescents, and those who carry chronic pain others can't see.

Ask at dinner: "Padre Pio carried real, visible wounds for fifty years and still spent sixteen hours a day helping other people carry theirs. What does that tell us about what suffering is actually for?"

✋ One Simple Action

Watch tomorrow's Sheen beatification livestream as a family if you can, even for some of it. Pray one decade of the rosary today for mothers and unborn children, joining the 40 Days for Life chain of prayer. And ask God, honestly, whether you believe what happens at every Mass is as weighty as Father Bowman described - then next time you're at Mass, pay closer attention.

📚 Read More

• Fulton Sheen beatification eve - what to know: OSV News event guide (https://www.osvnews.com/an-event-guide-for-the-beatification-of-archbishop-fulton-j-sheen/) and NewsNation (https://www.newsnationnow.com/religion/beatification-mass-archbishop-fulton-j-sheen-st-louis/) and St. Louis Review (https://www.stlouisreview.com/story/archbishop-fulton-sheen-to-be-beatified-in-st-louis-on-sept-24/)
• Father Brent Bowman's statement: Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, full statement (https://www.archspm.org/statement-from-father-brent-bowman-regarding-eucharistic-experience-during-mass/) and NCRegister (https://www.ncregister.com/blog/eucharistic-miracle-mass-profound-grace) and EWTN News (https://www.ewtnnews.com/world/us/priest-describes-spiritual-experience-mass)
• 40 Days for Life fall campaign begins: Diocese of Bridgeport (https://www.bridgeportdiocese.org/40-days-for-life-begins-fall-campaign/) and Diocese of Venice (https://dioceseofvenice.org/fall-40-days-for-life-campaign-sept-23-nov-1/) and NCRegister commentary by Shawn Carney (https://www.ncregister.com/commentaries/why-the-pro-life-movement-is-gaining-ground)
• St. Pius of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio): Vatican, official biography (https://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20020616_padre-pio_en.html)

Give me neither poverty nor riches, Agur prayed. Take nothing for the journey, Jesus told the Twelve. Tomorrow a bishop who gave his whole public life to Christ is called Blessed. A priest this week could barely lift the chalice under the weight of what he suddenly understood. A saint who carried Christ's own wounds said prayer was the only weapon worth carrying. Take nothing extra today. Trust that what you need will be given.